Senate shuns push for elimination of pet projects

Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., sponsor of Tuesday's measure, says GOP support will likely increase as old-timers leave the Senate. And GOP moderate Olympia Snowe of Maine - facing a potential challenge from the right should she seek re-election in 2012 - switched in favor of the ban after supporting earmarks in a vote in March.

"A lot of the earmarkers are leaving," Coburn said. "And I think people are going to be looking over their shoulders in 2012 a little bit. This isn't the last time we're going to have that vote."

Estimates vary, but earmarks went from more than 1,300 projects worth nearly $8 billion in 1994 to a peak of nearly 14,000 projects worth more than $27 billion in 2005, according to Citizens Against Government Waste, a watchdog group that opposes the practice.

Democrats also say they've cut back the number and cost of earmarks by half. Some watchdogs dispute that, but there's universal praise for reforms that made the process more transparent for outsiders to track a "pay-to-play" system in which lobbyists and corporate executives showered lawmakers with campaign funds in exchange for earmarks.

Coburn said earmarks can create "a conflict of interest that benefits just those we represent from our states or just those who help us become senators. All we have to do is look at campaign contributions and earmarks, and there is a stinky little secret associated with that."

Supporters picked up new help from Democrats Michael Bennet and Mark Udall of Colorado, Bill Nelson of Florida, and Mark Warner of Virginia. At the same time, eight Republicans who were who opposed the ban in a vote in March now have joined with earmark opponents, including Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas, and Snowe.